After the stress tests conducted in the US during the past weeks, it’s time to go through the global results coming from the stress test from international business school IMD, included in its annual IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2009. One of the most apparent findings is that countries with population of less than 30 million are better placed to face the economic slowdown and benefit quicker from any recovery.

The IMD WCY analyzed how well 57 surveyed countries are equipped to tackle the recession and improve their competitiveness. The aforementioned conclusion regarding the favourable position of small countries in economic slowdown goes against prevaling economic thinking that large economies like China and India are better placed to face economic slowdown because of the diversified nature of the economy.

The top 20 in the stress test looks as follows:

 

1. Denmark: 100.0
2. Singapore: 96.4
3. Qatar: 87.9
4. Norway: 84.0
5. Hong Kong: 83.2
6. Switzerland: 83.1
7. Sweden: 81.6
8. Australia: 81.4
9. Finland: 80.8
10. Malaysia: 77.6
11. the Netherlands: 74.2
12. New Zealand: 69.3
13. India: 68.1
14. Austria: 67.8
15. Chile: 67.8
16. Canada: 67.2
17. Luxemburg: 66.6
18. China: 64.6
19. Thailand: 63.2
20. Israel: 62.2

The report identified also general issues the world economy is faced with, ranging from warnings towards the automobile sector (not surprising), the rise of cross-border mergers or the analysis of recovery related inflation risks. Note that this report analysises also global competitivity (in which not Denmark but the US ranks top), hence its name IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook.

For more details, related reports and interviews, click here. Interesting food for thought.